Pool Area: Norwegian Dawn
Pool Area: Norwegian Dawn
We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on Jet Blue flight 107 from Washington, late at night on Friday. The flight went very well, was on time, and we watched TV in our seats as we flew to Ft. Lauderdale. I was amazed by the amount of commercials that they had on Pay TV (DirectTV). We are not TV watchers as a whole, so it seemed like a lot. From the airport we took the Tri-county express shared ride van into Miami. This was an economical choice because it cost us only $30, rather than the $60 plus tip we would have paid for a taxi. It took a LONG time to get to our hotel (motel) (about an hour and twenty minutes) but the good part was that three of the other folks in the van were staying in hotels on Collins Avenue in the Art Deco area of Miami, so we got a nice scenic drive down Collins Avenue, which was just great.
Days Inn Civic Center and Route 836
We stayed at the Days Inn Civic center. It is very inexpensive and not too far from the port or the Miami airport. It is very much a motel, and has typical motel rooms. The biggest problem here is that the hotel fronts the highway (836) that goes to the airport; a highway with all night truck traffic. If you are a cheapskate and book here, I recommend that you request a room away from the highway. Other than that, and the fact that someone had accidentally turned the heat on, therefore the room was warm, humid and musty when we arrived, it was fine. We aired out the room and used earplugs and were OK, but next time we will spend more and book a better hotel.
We went down near the pier, to a shopping area (and I cannot remember the name of it, sorry) and looked through the bridge at the ships. There were 3 Carnival ships in port, Norwegian Sea, Norwegian Dawn and Navigator of the Seas. We also picked up some things we needed, then B., who had rented a van, dropped S. and me off at the port, while he and my husband Mark headed off to return the rental car. S. and I delivered the luggage to the porters and tipped them (there was not a bit of stated 'encouragement' to tip that I noticed at the pier.) Then we settled in for a long wait. It took fully two hours for Mark and B. to return the car and catch a shuttle back. Most of the wait was at the Dollar Rental Car for shuttle busses back, which were full, and three filled up before they managed to find space on one.
Finally, though, the guys got to the ship about 1 and we embarked. This went very quickly and smoothly. Though we passed through a number of stations (cruise ticket check, security, filling out immigration forms for BVI and the Bahamas, checking in, getting room key/purchasing card, and finally picture taking, it was all pretty quick, and we were on the ship before 2 PM. There were some differences between this cruise and our NCL Majesty cruise last year. How much these were due to increased security and how much to the new technology on the ship I don't know. But the room key and the purchasing card were the same card, unlike on N. Majesty, and they took digital pics of us when boarding, which they checked whenever we left and re-boarded, to make sure we were who we were supposed to be.
Muster Drill
Eating on the Pool Deck.
Once aboard we hit the lunch buffet. This was pretty standard with a couple standouts and a couple tiny negatives. They had an Indian Vegetarian station every day for lunch. I am a vegetarian and the couple of times I ate there the food was very good, if you like Indian food. Plus, the entrees changed at least a couple of times (I only ate at the buffet twice, and Mark only ate there once) The salad had good vegetables, but bottled (Wish Bone) dressings. The iced tea had a tendency to run out and not be refreshed, which was problematic for my husband. This was on the pool deck, where, on sea days, they also had a barbecue. The food at the barbecue according to my husband was good, the meat was excellent quality, and a little overcooked (medium for my rare-loving husband). It was really nice that my carnivorous husband could have a nice steak, while I enjoyed a yummy vegetarian entree. We were really pleased with this food.
Since I am on food, I'll discuss all the different dining options. We went everywhere except Cagney's and the Trattoria. We skipped Cagney's because they were expensive and I could not eat anything, and we skipped the Trattoria, because Italian food does not particularly excite me. My mom was Italian and a fine cook, and Italian Restaurants always seem a bit wanting to me compared to the home cooked stuff that I know as my staff of life. We also did not eat at the Blue Lagoon.
Julie taking some notes in the Garden Cafe after Breakfast
Breakfast buffets were where we usually started the day. They were standard, and the food was fine. They had a waffle station, and an egg station, which had god food. The eggs, which I like over medium, were not cooked enough for me, therefore I did not get them. over easy was all they really did. Mark was able to get over medium one day by insisting. I did have an omelette there one day, which was excellent. They also had a whole raft of hot cereals, including cream of wheat (my husband's favorite) but raisins and brown sugar, which he loves IN his cream of wheat were intermittent. But we are being very picky here. The variety was great, the food generally quite good.
Of the three dining rooms I liked Impressions best and Aqua least. Impressions has a very intimate feel with semicircular booths and reproductions of great impressionist paintings. It's long and narrow, which makes it quiet and intimate. I liked that a lot. Venetian is big and noisy and very traditional feeling. It is also quite beautiful, reminded me a lot of the Pump Room in Bath, a large formal European style see and be seen kind of space. I loved all the little details here (and indeed all over the ship) The painting and metalwork on the ceiling, the statuary, the paintings of Venice canals on the walls. This was indeed the loudest room, but my husband who has a hearing problem, was not bothered by it. My sister in law loved this room.
Aqua was beautiful also, but far more contemporary than the other two. The Chagall-inspired glass art on the walls was very nice, and it is all done in tones of blue, very soothing. This was not my #3 because I did not like it, only that the other two I liked a lot. All three dining rooms were wonderful.
The food in the three dining rooms was essentially identical, although at least one day I noticed a smaller choice at Aqua than at Venetian (I noticed it because it was the vegetarian appetizer that was missing at Aqua, so we dined at Venetian that night). It was pretty standard cruise ship fare, and generally quite good. As usual the cold soups were very good, especially for folks that usually don't eat them. The menus have soups and salads listed together, trying to, I think, encourage you to pick one or the other. This was not a problem for me, as I was trying not to overeat too badly. And the one night I wanted both the soup and the salad I just ordered them and all was fine (except I then did not have any room for dessert). Desserts were very good, especially the Creme Brulee, lemon and chocolate souffles. Vegetarian entrees were uniformly good. My husband thought the meat entrees were excellent.
Mark enjoying a Sushi lunch at Bamboo. $10 for all you can eat sushi. Plus he bought a beer and left an extra tip.
There are seven specialty restaurants on the Dawn, and three of them require an extra charge. Bamboo, is a pan-asian restaurant with a Teppanyaki room, sushi bar, etc. Mark had lunch on one of the sea days at the sushi bar; we both would have, but the maitre 'd said they could not provide any vegetarian sushi. So I went to eat in the dining room. Mark reported that the sushi was very good, with thick pieces, and he enjoyed a roll and some tuna and talked the chef out of some yellowtail. There was a $10 fee for all the sushi that you could eat. They also had Ichiban beer available, which Mark loves with his sushi, though it was expensive (like $5 for a bottle). B. and S.signed up for Teppanyaki one night, which they found not as good and not as entertaining as they were used to on land.
Le Bistro is Norwegian's signature fancy French restaurant. We ate there the last night, as we had some trouble making reservations far enough in advance. We were seated next to the Matisse, and all of the food was wonderful. My big issue here was the lack of vegetarian options. They had a single appetizer, but it was asparagus, which I don't really care for. There was no soup. This was not a terrible thing, but when you pay $12.50 for the meal on a ship, you want to be able to order each course! The entree, a vegetarian four seasons, was wonderful, as was the salad, a spinach salad with goat cheese. I was a little disappointed with the dessert, cherries jubilee. On NCL Majesty they flamb‚ed the flamb‚ed dessert at your table, and I ordered expecting that. They did not do that here. Mark and B. had the filet which they pronounced delicious, and S.the chicken. However, I do tend to find le Bistro food worth the extra charge, and definitely find the ambiance worthwhile.
We did not eat at Cagney's steak house.
the Balcony is where Salsa's restaurant is.
Salsas is a Mexican/Tapas restaurant which is intriguingly built around the atrium on the 8th deck (just above the floor of the atrium). Despite its location, it was a very nice place to dine, and the foot traffic is definitely directed away from this area. It was nice because you could enjoy the live music from the floor below while dining. We were at a table for two by a large window and could watch the water rushing by at our feet. I asked about the Tapas (which I love) and what was available for vegetarians, and the chef went out of his or her way to design a Tapas plate for us which was entirely vegetarian. I was quite impressed. I also had a vegetable quesadilla, and my husband had fajitas which were quite lovely. We had a really lovely waitress, and it was a great dinner. There is no additional charge for Salsas.
We did not eat in the Italian place, but it is created out of half of the Garden Cafe at dinner. We did eat one buffet dinner, and the biggest problem was that there was NOTHING for me to eat at all, except salad. They even put chicken in the Alfredo sauce, so I could not eat pasta. I ended up getting a plate from the kids' area in this (They have a separate kids area in this buffet, with a lower buffet full of kid-friendly foods, which fortunately for me, included macaroni and cheese.) I could not figure out why there were no vegetarian options at dinner, especially given the special vegetarian food at lunch.
While we did not eat a Blue Lagoon, we walked through a lot of times. Clearly set up for teens and very young adults, this has music videos and worldwide fast food (hamburgers, fish and chips, noodle bowls). I heard positive things from folks of those generations about it. We prefer a dining room, and were not really hungry for snacks at all.
From the Chocoholic Buffet.
There was a chocoholic buffet, which was quite wonderful, with a wide variety of foods (including some non-chocolate stuff.). I believe this was the only buffet, but there were always late night snacks. There was also no high tea which I really missed.
We also ordered sandwiches from room service one day (at 8 AM to take with us to St. John) and they were very good; I had peanut butter, which was a special order (the kids menu had peanut butter and jelly) Mark had turkey.
One very funny thing happened while we were in Impressions on Monday, the 13th. This was S.'s birthday and our TA had arranged a celebration. Imagine the surprise when the waiters came and sang "Let me call you Sweetheart" and presented and anniversary cake!
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Ice sculpture demonstration by the pool.
Small inside Stateroom
Rooms on this ship are small. Ours was really small. The web site said 140 square feet, but it felt more like the 112 on our first cruise. We had an inside JJ cabin. It was laid out in the standard manner, with the closet, drawers, shelves, safe on one side and the bathroom on the other. They put the beds together in the middle of the back wall of the cabin, which was not the best idea, since it left only about a foot and a half on each side. We would rather have had 3 feet on one side. Now keep in mind that small is not really an issue for us. We would gladly travel in this size cabin again. I note this because there are many people for whom this is important. S.and B. had a balcony stateroom, which was significantly bigger than our stateroom, but still very narrow. There was only room for two chairs and a table on their balcony. Our inside room was set up so that it could potentially accommodate 4 people, with a trundle bed under one of the singles and a pull-down bed. I cannot imagine 4 people in that stateroom.
The one really great things about these rooms is the bathrooms. They are very large for cruise ship bathrooms. Indeed, when we opened the sliding door (yes, not a curtain, a sliding door) to the shower my husband said "we could both fit in there." I am a little skeptical that we really could (it would be a tight fit for our two corpulent bodies) BUT that gives you a big clue to the generous shower facilities. There was enough shelf space for all our stuff, and lots of places to hang things. In the main cabin there were only 3 drawers, but there were also four shelves inside the closet (under the safe, but shelf access.) We were quite pleased with the facilities. But we did not spend much time in the room.
The rest of the ship is beautiful, of course. It's new and nothing is worn or discolored. There is a LOT of art in this shop, not just the famed impressionist paintings, and the Warhols in the stairway (flowers fore, Mao amidships, and a sunset aft), but there is art all over the place: a large swooping mobile in the atrium by the elevators, stained glass ceilings over Salsa's restaurant, glass sculptures (not to my taste, but still there) in the lobby, art deco style sculptures of women in the forward end of the 7th floor, lots if interesting wall art. I can't begin to describe it all, but it was very interesting, and beautiful. Even the ceilings and floor treatments were interesting throughout the ship. I thought the internet cafe carpet was particularly interesting, but many interesting carpet treatments were all over the shop.
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The Stardust Theatre.
All the way forward on 7, the Stardust Theatre is a very big proscenium stage. It's accessed on 6 and 7 but is really about 3 decks high. It is like a broadway theatre, with side balconies, a very tall center section, catwalks above the stage, really good lighting and audio equipment. There are few bad seats in the house; the very last row in the balcony is really bad, and there are a few seats behind pillars. The theatre does fill up quickly. It is a great space and the entertainment that they put on in it is also pretty exceptional. The Jean Ann Ryan company has three shows, a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, a Miami "South Beach Party" show and a "Bollywood" show. The last is the most spectacular, costumes, effects, lighting, very unique concept extremely well realized, but I don't want to ruin the surprise of it. It is neat that these shows, especially the Webber one, have far less lip-synching than other cruise shows I have seen. I think the Webber one had none. During that show almost all the dancers had microphones, and when they moved through the aisles during the performance, you could hear them singing. Mark was really impressed by the integration of the instrumental musicians into the shows; They moved onto the stage, into the aisles, and were a more active part of the show than I have seen on a cruise ship before.
As on other Norwegian show teams, there were a half dozen special performers.They included a Russian dance couple, a classically dance trained couple who also did a lot of acrobatics, and a couple men who were clearly high class gymnasts. It was great.
In other entertainment, we saw Dominique Ava, a violinist, and a juggler/comedian named Lucas. There was a late night comedian but we never managed to get to his show.
Martini Tasting at Star Bar.
On deck 12 the Spinnaker Lounge, also at the front, was my favorite Bar/live music venue. There was a fairly large dance floor, and this is where the Show Band did their Big Band music. It was also where the Latitudes party was, from which I posted to rec.travel.cruises on Monday morning (More on internet connection later). We got to the party early and snagged seats over on the side, right in the windows, where we could watch ourselves approach and sail into San Juan. This was a different room in the day than at night. During the day it was a big airy light room, and at night it was a large elegant lounge. Toward the back of the room were a set of really interesting, unique chairs; very fun.
Dazzles, on Deck 7 behind the Stardust theatre, was the karaoke venue. The only problem with this is that it is open to the foot traffic on that floor, and therefore not very private. This inhibits shy folk from being involved in karaoke. For the first time on a ship, we went to karaoke where they had a lot of trouble getting folks to sing (I was not comfortable singing with a lot of non-karaoke folks walking through.) That said, the technology here is really neat, a floor to ceiling screen behind the singer showing the video portion, as well as monitors over the bar, special lighting. It is a lovely place but a bit too public for me.
Dazzles II, between Dazzles and the Blue Lagoon is a disco for the 17 to 20 set.
There is often live music in the atrium, a folk combo called "Love Brothers and Lira" A Latin band and a contemporary band shared the pool deck; which had a great bandstand between two of the four hot tubs around the pool. Two piano bar performers alternated in the champagne bar, near Le Bistro and impressions on the 6th floor. And the Star Bar was a martini bar off by itself on the highest level of the ship.
Because the ship is new, everything was fairly expensive (we like the older polo shirts and such that are less expensive.) There were two shops. The Galleria is a large duty free shop with a lot of Norwegian merchandise and various duty free things. It was large and nice. There was also a gift shop off the atrium with a lot of luxury goods. The stuff was beautiful but way out of range for us. They also had some special stuff in the lobby, like the ubiquitous "inch of gold" promotion.
None of us had children around, and this was during school time, but there were some children aboard. The T-rex outdoor area is pretty amazing, and when we visited this area it seemed like a great deal of fun. A young man in the hot tub with my husband told him that the T-rex area was great. There is a hot tub for children in that area, but there is no restriction on children in the four hot tubs in the pool area, or the one on the front (though I never saw children there). The spa is restricted to 16 and older. They have programs for kids of all levels, including a disco for young adults not quite drinking age, so it seems pretty nice this way.
Spa pool
My sister in law visited the spa for two treatments (birthday presents) and while she enjoyed the treatments she found the hard sell of products very annoying. The spa itself is beautiful, with a Mayan theme, which was really cool. It's on two levels, above is the fitness area with lots of equipment, a spinning room and an aerobics room. I attended one of the aerobics classes, which was very well done. (I am an AFAA step instructor, so I know a little bit to judge it). Since we snorkeled three days I did not attend other classes, though I did the group walk one morning.
Downstairs in the spa is just wonderful though. In addition to the Salon and treatment facility, there is an extensive set of things you can do without paying for a treatment. Men's and women's changing rooms include steam rooms and saunas. They are small but effective. I spent time in the steam room but not the sauna. In the central area you can find a lap pool (warm water in the high 70's. Reputed to be the largest indoor pool on a cruise ship it is long enough to do laps effectively, though I rarely saw people swimming in it. There was also a wave pool, which was like a jacuzzi, but with reclining support, so that you lay back in it. Except for the nagging feeling that you are slipping forward (I found that I actually was not even though I felt like I was) it is lovely. In addition there is a nice sized hot tub (no one under 16 in here). And facing the aft of the ship there is a row of chaises looking out a wall of windows. You can sit here and read or just watch the wake of the ship. Very nice.
One of my favorite places on the ship. The casino is appropriately glittery and bright, with strong colors and lots of sparkle. There were usually 4 or 5 $5 blackjack tables (plus 2 $10 tables and a $25 table). I won $110 at blackjack over the week, so I was very happy. The place was quite large and fun, and full of slots, which S. and B. enjoyed. We had a fun time in the casino.
Julie using the Internet from the Atrium near the coffee bar.
We decided to use the wireless internet service, since Mark had brought his laptop and wireless internet card along with him in order to download photos from his digital camera. We signed up for it Saturday afternoon, but technical problems made it impossible to use until late Monday morning. Indeed my Monday morning post from Spinnaker lounge was the first time we had gotten on.
We were a little disappointed to discover that the wireless internet did not work in the cabins. We had to leave the cabin (most often we went to the internet cafe, since it was just down the hall from us) to use the internet. This was disappointing, but when I could check mail in the Garden Cafe or the Spinnaker Lounge, I decided it was a better deal than just getting minutes at the Internet Cafe. And the price was the same. And the manager of the internet cafe was extremely helpful when we had problems, even giving us some extra minutes to help compensate for when the system was unavailable the first couple of days.
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Images of Old San Juan.
At San Juan we docked at the Pan American Terminal. I can't figure this out, except that it is very far from Old San Juan. This is not good, especially since the port call is short, 12:30 in the afternoon to 8:00. Since this was S.'s birthday this did not leave much time to do any sight-seeing.
Mark and I left the ship as soon as possible in order to do some shopping. We were looking for a traditional Ponce Carnival mask for another sister-in-law who is an artist. We took a cab to Plaza Colon, which we knew from previous trips. Calle Forteleza, the main shopping street, starts (or ends) here, and we walked up the street looking for the place. It took us about an hour to find Le Mascaras, an art store that sells the masks, and then about another hour to get and arrange for mailing of the mask.
As I was arranging the last bits of the mask purchase, Mark went off shopping in the Haitian import stores. Then I shopped independantly and we headed off to El Morro to meet S. and B. They arrived, but it was too late to get into the park site, so we walked around the grounds for a bit, shopped a bit more and then picked up a cab again at Plaza Colon, returning to the trip.
Norwegian Dawn docked in St. Thomas.
St John.
We did not linger in St. Thomas, but headed right out to Trunk Bay on St. John. We grabbed a cab to Red Hook ($8 per person) then the ferry to Cruz Bay ($3 per person) took a cab to Trunk Bay ($4 per person) paid the Park Service fee ($4 per person). So with tips $22 to get to Trunk Bay. On the way back we took a cab back to Cruz Bay ($4 per person) and took the ferry directly to Charlotte Amalie at 2:15 ($7 per person.) So with tips $12 to go back, or $34 each. Still $10 less than the similar shore excursion!
Norwegian Dawn docked at Havensight.
At Trunk Bay Mark, B. and I did some snorkeling, starting with the snorkelling trail, and we saw a small shark and many other fish. S. sunned on the sand of the beautiful beach. It was a nice day and we did some minimal shopping at Havensight before returning to the ship.
A fellow sailor between Tortola and Virgin Gorda.
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The Baths, Virgin Gorda.
On Tortolla we took a pre-arranged ferry over to Virgin Gorda for about 4 hours. We took a cab out to the Baths which we enjoyed immensely. We hiked through the caves and among the boulders for an hour or so, then snorkeled for another hour. The huge boulders that litter the beach are a dramatic landscape, but it is almost more dramatic when you start looking at it out under the water, because the same landscape continues out a ways into the water, and provides a home for many interesting fish. I hope my underwater pics come out well and I can post them.
The only problem was that I left my PDA with my notes on the cruise that far somewhere on Virgin Gorda, we think on the cab. We returned to the ship, and were able to get a replacement room card. Fortunately my passport was in the safe on the ship. I called the gift shop on Virgin Gorda and the cab driver we'd used, but they did not see it. I can only hope someone will send it. In the meantime I need to see if my insurance will cover this.
Followup: On February 3, 2003, I received an express mail pouch from St. Thomas in the USVI. My PDA had been mailed back to me by Speedy's (a ferry service primarily in Tortola, but with ferries to St. Thomas.). We did not even use Speedy's but rather used Smith's. I do not know who ensured that I got my Handspring Visor back, but it was a wonderful surprise, and I am glad to know again that there are good people out there.
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Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas.
Great Stirrup Cay was a great private island stop, and I did some snorkeling there, although the seas were too rough to see much, not the clear water that we saw in St. John and Virgin Gorda. I also swam there some, riding the waves.
This was really slow. As we were doing an extra day in Florida we were in the last group. It did not help that there was a non-US Citizen who took a long time to report to immigration. First they started announcing that remaining Non-US citizens needed to report to immigration, then they started to announce that this person needed to report by name. For over an hour. Disembarkation started more than an hour late. We spent some time in the internet cafe, using up our minutes, then had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room, then waited in our room. Especially in this situation, Freestyle disembarkation has a real advantage. I hate sitting in a lounge at the end of the cruise. Instead we watched some stuff on TV.
When the luggage tag color ahead of ours was called, we started making our way down to the exit, and therefore our wait when we were called was not long. We found our luggage easily, and hopped a bus for Alamo car rental (we were staying an extra day) easily from the port. It was a great cruise, and we had a wonderful time, but it was over.
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The Everglades.
We caught the Alamo rental car van directly at the port with no problem. Mark said that the Alamo setup was much better than Dollar had been a week earlier. We had arranged for a convertable, but Miami was having a very cold snap, so Mark asked if we could change; and we could, so for very little ($31) we got a little Dodge with unlimited mileage. It was around noon when we left Alamo and headed south.
We stopped at a local taco place for lunch, ran into a K-mart for a couple of things, and drove to the Everglades, where we took a fascinating but very cold hike with Ranger Maureen, the Anhinga Amble. This walk leads around a very short walk, mostly on boardwalks above the slough. We saw Cormorants, Herons, Wood Storks, in addition to the Anhingas.
After the walk we headed back to the highway stopping at a nearby farm stand for some milkshakes, passion-keylime and keylime, and to buy an uglifruit. We stayed at a Travelodge near the Everglades, which was very comfortable and inexpensive, if an hour or so away from Miami.
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South Beach Art Deco Fair.
The next morning we rose early, had breakfast at Denny's and headed back to Miami. I suggested we stop in the Art Deco area of South Beach, which we found fairly easily. We spent about an hour wandering along Ocean Drive and enjoying a fair that was being set up. It was an annual Art Deco fair, and we wished we could have stayed, but we needed to get the car back to the FLL airport by noon. So we left for the airport, our vacation over.